What's the Swiss Army Knife of cars? What car can be used in the most situations?Here are the ten most versatile cars according to Jalopnik readers at every price point.
Welcome back to Answers of the Day — our Jalopnik summer feature where we take the best ten responses from the previous day's Question of the Day and shine it up to show off. It's by you and for you, the Jalopnik readers. Enjoy!
10.) Honda Element
Suggested By: tegwj
Price: $20,825 (MSRP)
What It Can Do: The Element is quite possibly the most versatile car on today's list. From its totally changeable and reconfigurable interior seating to its waterproof cabin, the Element can become whatever you want it to be. It's got a removable cooler in the center console, and can be ordered straight from Honda with all kinds of roof racks for whatever you could possibly ever want to strap to the roof of your car. It's even got our four-legged friends in mind, with an available Dog-Friendly package topping the list of accessories.
9.) Ford Crown Victoria
Suggested By: Iowa11
Price: $3,000-$12,000 (Used)
What It Can Do: In a world where "body on frame" is more often used to describe construction workers putting up a house, the Crown Victoria is a welcome reminder of how things used to be. Take a big V8 engine, make it power the rear wheels, and attach a big steel body to it, and run it into the ground. These things never die, whether they're in taxi form or chasing criminals with the police, or climbing rocks, as the above video demonstrates. They're big enough inside to carry a ton of people (especially with the front bench seat in place) and comfortable enough to keep them all from complaining.
Photo credit: Youtube
8.) Audi RS6 Avant
Suggested By: E39Ed
Price: $42,000 (Used, in England)
What It Can Do: As long as you live in Europe, the RS6 Avant will do anything and everything a regular wagon can do, but faster. If you value speed and exclusivity, may we recommend a wagon from Ingolstadt with a V10 engine up front? It'll get you from 0-62 miles per hour in 4.6 seconds and top out at 155 miles per hour. The Avant has almost 34 cubic feet of luggage space too, (and more with the back seats folded down), so there's plenty of room to take the kids to soccer practice, the dog to the vet, and then keep up with most of Dad's friends out on the track. Just make some friends at the US Customs department first.
7.) Ford Transit Connect
Suggested By: E34 is an underrated E30, except better
Price: $21,290 (MSRP)
What It Can Do: If you're in the business of doing things with stuff, then there is certainly a Transit Connect out there for you. This little truck can be outfitted to handle very nearly any situation it might find itself in. There's 135 cubic feet of storage space behind the front seats, which is enough to get lost in. It can get literally millions of different combinations of shelving and storage compartments fitted to its rear, so there's something for every need. And it drives like a regular hatchback, not a big ungainly truck. What's not to like?
6.) Chevrolet El Camino
Suggested By: LuckyChuck
Price: $5,000-$35,000 (Used)
What It Can Do: The El Camino was the original mullet-mobile. It's business in the front, and a party in the back; and it's able to haul around all kinds of stuff, too! If you're looking for something that's old and cool, but still incredibly useful, the El Camino might be for you. It performs like a car (albeit, a 30 or 40 year old American one) but can work like a truck. They even come in a range of price points, from basket case junkheap to daily driver to garage queen to hot rodded and customized beyond all recognition. There is, quite literally, an El Camino out there for every single person whose tastes would merit an El Camino.
Photo credit: Affordable Classics Inc.
5.) Ford F-150 Raptor SVT
Suggested By: E34 is an underrated E30, except better
Price: $38,020 (MSRP)
What It Can Do: Looking at Ford's website for the Raptor, at first it doesn't seem all that multi-faceted. There are two options when you choose to Build Your Own: color, and stickers. But looking deeper into the meaning of the Raptor, we see its different sides. This is a truck that can attack unsuspecting sand dunes and off-road courses with ease, but can then pull up in front of Home Depot and have a whole lot of plywood and 2x4s dropped in the bed. This is a truck that with a few modifications could take on the infamous Baja 1000 off-road race through Mexico, and then get washed off and take the kids to school, or help your best friend move out of their apartment. The Raptor is only as crazy as you want it to be, but can get pretty crazy.
4.) AMC Eagle Wagon
Suggested By: bills79jeep
Price: $800-$2,000
What It Can Do: Why get a newer, softer, more boring crossover when you can get the American original? The AMC Eagle took a car body and paired it with a full-time automatic all-wheel drive system, and singlehandedly created the crossover SUV. It came in a number of body styles, but the five-door wagon is the most useful of the lot. The Eagle wagon was also the most popular model, with well over 100,000 produced during its eight year lifespan, so finding one shouldn't be too difficult. You'll certainly stand out when you do.
Photo credit: Westman Jeep
3.) Ferrari FF
Suggested By: JonZeke
Price: $300,000 (MSRP)
What It Can Do: The "FF" stands for Ferrari Four: four seats and four wheel drive. That in and of itself makes the FF more useful than nearly every other car the company has ever produced. The FF also has their signature V12 up front, which is good for 651 horsepower. That'll be more than enough to cruise around town or head up into the mountains for a ski vacation. It'll be more than enough to take on a little off-roading too, because if you had a Ferrari with four wheel drive, wouldn't you, just to say you did? And to top it all off, the FF has 28 cubic feet of space behind the front row, so there's still room to cram it full of stuff. It's the most useful supercar out there.
2.) Pontiac Aztek
Suggested By: Gamecat235
Price: $8,000-$10,000 (Used)
What It Can Do: So what if it's ugly as sin? The Aztek has a camping tent that folds out of the back, along with an air mattress, removable cooler, and seat-mounted backpack. It's got electrical outlets all over the place. Its dashboard was designed by the same guys that made sure NASA's rocket dashboards were easy to understand. It can swallow up an 8'x4' piece of plywood completely within its interior, which is a rare feat amongst SUVs. All this is to say that if you can look beyond an exterior that looks like someone playing a cruel joke on General Motors and the American public, there's a very versatile car underneath.
1.) Hummer H1
Suggested By: underwear-ninja
Price: $65,000-$20,000
What It Can Do: The H1 can do just about anything. It has 16 inches of ground clearance, can drive over a 22 inch tall obstacle, handle 60 percent grade, and get through 30 inches of water. It can be had with up to a 6.6 liter V8 turbo diesel engine, which puts down over 600 foot pounds of torque. The Army used these things to storm across numerous warzones, making them more than capable of getting you to and from work.
Photo credit:Skinz.org